On Halloween, an Ottawa brother and sister will be the first people to sleep in Dracula’s castle in nearly 70 years.

Tami Varma and her brother, Robin, won the trip to Bran Castle in Transylvania through a promotional giveaway by Airbnb.

It will be the first time since 1948 the castle has hosted overnight guests.

Is she nervous?

“I was nervous that it wasn’t real,” said Tami Varma, who saw the contest on Facebook and convinced Robin and her father to enter it with her. “As far as going to the castle and staying there? I couldn’t be more excited.”

Tami Varma, right, and her brother Robin, the grandchildren of Devendra Varma, a scholar of English gothic tales and an expert in vampire lore, pose in coffins at the Bran Castle, in Bran, Romania, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016.Vadim Ghirda /
AP

Dracula fans were encouraged to enter to win a chance to spend a night in the Romanian castle hosted by Dacre Stoker, great-nephew of Bram Stoker, who wrote the original Dracula novel.

As it happens, the contest winners have a connection through their family, too: They’re the grandchildren of Devendra Varma, a professor at Dalhousie University who was one of the world’s authorities on Gothic literature.

“My grandfather’s been to the castle before. He’d famously talk about stories about his visit,” she said. “He considered himself to be an expert in vampire lore and lust, and every Halloween he’d go on the news to be interviewed to talk about Halloween and Dracula, and all the gothic literature surrounding it.

“This is a chance for us to experience what he loved so much.”

Tami Varma and her brother Robin, the grandchildren of Devendra Varma, a scholar of English gothic tales and an expert in vampire lore, walk in the inner court yard of Bran Castle in Bran, Romania, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016.Vadim Ghirda /
AP

The siblings leave for Europe early Saturday morning and will be put up around Romania for several days before going to the castle on Oct. 31.

“We get in a horse-drawn carriage and we’re trotted up to the castle. And we’re there until Nov. 2 when we’re coming back,” Varma said.”Well, hopefully … .”

The house rules are a little strict — no garlic, no holy symbols, no silver jewelry and not a lot of mirrors in the place. But guests have been promised a spooky carriage ride through the Transylvanian forest with wolves howling and the option to sleep in red velvet-trimmed coffins.

Will she take the coffin option?

Tami Varma the granddaughter of Devendra Varma, a scholar of English gothic tales and an expert in vampire lore, looks at the dinner table set at Bran Castle in Bran, Romania, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016.Vadim Ghirda /
AP

“Well, yeah! I’m not going to go all the way to Transylvania to do otherwise.”

Bran Castle dates to the 14th century.

Tami Varma and her brother Robin, left, the grandchildren of Devendra Varma, a scholar of English gothic tales and an expert in vampire lore, pose with Dacre Stoker, the descendant of Bram Stoker, at Bran Castle in Bran, Romania, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016.Vadim Ghirda /
AP

Tami Varma, granddaughter of Devendra Varma, a scholar of English gothic tales and an expert in vampire lore, adjusts her makeup at the Bran Castle, in Bran, Romania, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016.Vadim Ghirda /
AP

Tami Varma, right, and her brother Robin, the grandchildren of Devendra Varma, a scholar of English gothic tales and an expert in vampire lore, pose in coffins, at the Bran Castle, in Bran, Romania, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016.Vadim Ghirda /
AP

Tami Varma jumps out of the stagecoach that brought her and her brother Robin, the grandchildren of Devendra Varma, a scholar of English gothic tales and an expert in vampire lore, at the Bran Castle, in Bran, Romania, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016.Vadim Ghirda /
AP

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